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Where are you looking?

When my children were small, the three of us took horse riding lessons together. One of the important lessons I took away from that experience was that a horse will sense the direction you’re looking and will turn to that direction. In this time of changing and pivoting for relevance in the new environment, I’m mindful of this, and ask you, “Where are you looking?”

As a CEO, my responsibility is to keep my eyes on “the horizon” for where the business needs to go. Looking one to five years out, seeing what the marketplace will need and investing accordingly. This is what distinguishes an executive—eyes on the future. Your company will follow your direction. Your staff will sense the change and move with you. If they don’t, that’s a different problem and not addressed here.

There are always things that will threaten to grab your attention and redirect your CEO eyes: natural disasters, significant personnel issues, interruptions in your supply chain, threats to your intellectual property, and the list goes on.

The most recent attention grabber is the coronavirus pandemic. This virus is extremely disruptive, grabbing the attention of your employees as they scramble to cover childcare, maintain their employment, and keep themselves and their families safe. This virus is disrupting businesses, drying up revenue, closing down client businesses and cancelling opportunities to meet new customers. For non-essential business, it is forcing a transition to a remote workforce and is forcing creativity and pivoting to stay relevant. So, where are you looking?

So, how do you manage to survive? How to you maintain focus while slaying the dragons that are threatening your turf, your clients and your team? I think that Zig Ziglar’s guidance is relevant for today. “When obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your goal – you do not change your decision to get there.”

“Keep your eye on the prize,” is another phrase we often hear in this context. Golfers will tell you that one of the most challenging aspects of the game is keeping your eye on ball, and to not anticipate a great shot by looking up too soon. Where you look is very important when running a small business.

It’s okay to change direction to meet your goal. If your goal was a good one, it will retain relevance through these times. You can spend time and attention where and when needed, but take the time to come up and re-sight on where you are heading. Keep your focus on that horizon. This also serves to encourage your team who will feel more secure that their leadership can bring them through the quagmire.

I ask you again.  Where are you looking?